Many people enjoy skating as a recreational pastime, either with ice skates or with roller skates such as in-line roller skates. This pastime is generally made more enjoyable by providing skate boots having a distinctive and attractive appearance. In addition, manufacturers of skates have a desire to produce skate boots having a distinctive and attractive experience as they compete with other manufacturers for retail sales. As a result, skate boots are available having a wide variety of exterior colors and patterns.
The variety of colors and patterns on conventional skate boots presents a number of difficulties in the manufacturing process. One common method of producing an aesthetically pleasing skate boot is to arrange decorative pieces of leather, fabric or plastic (as the case may be) having different colors on the outwardly-facing surface of the skate boot. While this method is generally effective, it requires a potentially large number of irregularly-shaped pieces of different materials to be joined together in proper alignment with one another. This process is labour-intensive, and requires the person assembling the pieces of material to become familiar with different patterns when working on different models of skate, or as styles evolve over time. As a result, the time and cost required to manufacture a skate boot may be increased, and there may in some cases be a disincentive to create new or complex skate boot designs. In addition, the numerous seams or other joints between the pieces of material may be prone to fraying or loosening over time.
Another method of producing an aesthetically pleasing skate boot is to fashion the outer layer of the skate boot out of a plastic material, such as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). This allows the option of providing the appearance of different textures in different areas of the skate boot. However, this method presents difficulty in applying different colors to different areas of the skate boot. One approach is to print a design on the outside of the plastic, but this printing, particularly on the quarter, may be prone to cracking, chipping or other damage during use of the skate, resulting in an unattractive appearance. In addition, plastic is considered by some users to be less attractive than fabric, particularly a woven composite fabric. Finally, this method may also in some cases provide a disincentive to create new skate boot designs, because even a small change in design might require a new and costly mold.
Some skates are used in competitive activities, such as hockey. The aforementioned inconveniences are particularly exacerbated when the skates are used in such activities, as these activities subject the skate boots to an increased frequency of impact and abrasion, from, for example, hockey sticks and pucks and/or the blades or boots of other skaters. While current skate boots are generally of sufficient quality to maintain their structural integrity and usefulness under these conditions, these impacts and abrasions may adversely affect the aesthetic appeal of the skate boots. Plastic outer surfaces and the colors applied thereon may be prone to cracking, denting and chipping, and fabric or leather outer surfaces or the seams/joints between them may become scratched, frayed or loosened, all of which reduces the aesthetic appeal of the skate boots.
At least for these reasons, improvements in the art of skate boots would be desirable.